RADIO
As injuries and ineffectiveness cause shakeups around the league, it’s time to keep a sharper eye on the wire, especially in deeper leagues. Take a look at Delon Wright. If you grabbed Wright last week, Lowry’s unfortunate injury has opened a new door for him to showcase what he can do in a larger role, and his ownership percentage has surged to 34%. The top-75 production Wright looks to return will help many owners swing matchups in the coming weeks.
We’re here to help you grab the next Delon Wright. Remember that deep league adds are a lottery, and it’s hard to predict what will happen to guys who are ignored on such a wide scale. That’s what your bench spots are for, and these low-risk, high-reward moves are the types that can swing a season.
This column will feature only players owned 25% or fewer fantasy leagues. Here are today's Week 13 deeper league waiver wire pickups for your fantasy basketball teams.
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Deep League Adds for Week 13
Denzel Valentine, SG/SF, Chicago Bulls (17% Owned in Yahoo! Leagues)
Denzel Valentine put up a great stretch in November, but a cold stretch in early December had him fall back off the radar again. He’s been hot again recently putting up averages of 12.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists along with 1.3 steals and 2.5 threes over the last week.
While that value is coming off the back of some unsustainable shooting, Valentine’s minutes have been trending up recently with him averaging 28 minutes over the last month. Chicago has no reason not to see what they have with their young guys, and Valentine will provide a valuable source of 3s and steals as long as he is playing starter minutes.
It’s still to be seen how “The Hammer” or anyone from the Bulls will look once Zach Lavine and his expected high usage returns to the lineup, but Lavine should begin his season on a minutes restriction and be eased back into game speed, and Valentine should definitely be grabbed in deep leagues for the time being.
Jordan Bell, PF/C, Golden State Warriors (23% Owned in Yahoo! Leagues)
Jordan Bell was a hot add a few weeks ago but his ownership numbers have dwindled in the last week with a couple low minute performances and now he’s only owned in 23% of leagues. That shouldn’t be happening.
While Bell playing only 6, 16 and 19 minutes in his last three games is a discerning trend, the context still checks out for him being a must own guy even in 12-team leagues. In just 15mpg on the season, Bell is still averaging 0.7 steals and 1.1 blocks. He remains the Warriors’ center of the future and they have a vested interest in developing him.
Even in 15 minutes, he has still been around a top-150 player, and with 20 minutes, his defensive production would easily slot him in the top-100. Many owners are cutting bait too early on this high upside stash, make sure you aren’t one of them.
Dwight Powell, PF/C, Dallas Mavericks (17% Owned in Yahoo! Leagues)
Dwight Powell is a guy that advanced metrics love, and has put up a solid 2 week stretch returning close to top-100 value in just 20 minutes per game. Powell has averages of 10.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals on excellent percentages over that stretch.
In his 4th year in the league, it’s time to accept that Powell is a solid player in the league, and coach Rick Carlisle should reward him with more minutes going forward, especially with Dirk Nowitzki possibly seeing some maintenance days down the stretch.
Powell’s game translates very well to fantasy, and you should make a speculative add if you have the room to do so.
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By popular demand, RotoBaller has aggregated all of our fantasy basketball NBA waiver wire pickups into a running list of NBA waiver options, so bookmark the page and check back often for updates.
